Package



- Aug. 25,- 1936.

C, w. voGT= PACKAGE Filed July 19, 1934 ATTORNEYS Patented vug. 25,l1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKAGE Application July 19, 1934,serial No. man

7 Claims.

This invention relates to packages, the containers thereof, andmorevparticularly t a package consisting of a body of a plastic materialand an enwrapment therefor. The enwrapment is so designed that it may beconveniently opened along. the length thereof to liberate the body ofmaterial therefrom and without deformation thereof.

.One object of the invention is to provide a package which may beconveniently and expeditiously opened without the use of any tools andwithoutl the ngers coming in contact with the enwrapped material and inwhich there is no tendency to crush or defor'm the material during theopening operation.

Another object is to provide a package, some ofthe constituent elementsof which are secured together by adhesion, yet so designed that theadhesive material cannot come in contact with the .20 packaged contents.

Another object is to provide a package having.

a line of proposed tear along which the package is opened and which tearline is so arranged that it is substantially strain resisting againstinad-k vertent tearing, during casual handling of the package. As oneimportant feature the cylindrical peripheral wall is formed of twosuperposed layers, the outer layer having a tear line parallel fto themeeting edges of the material forming the inner layer whereby uponbreaking or separating the outer layer along its tear line the entirecasing may be opened up.

As a further feature, the tear line is formed as a series Aofperforations and the inner layer seals the perforations to prevent theescape of the material during shipment or handling.

As a further feature, the tear line extends helically at a comparativelysteep pitch so that the line extends only a relatively short distancearound the periphery and thus the casing may be easily opened up andattened out as a sheet.

The invention may be more fully understood from the followingdescription in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of a package embodying theinvention,

Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views therethrough on the lines 2-2 and 3 3respectively of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective viewillustrating certain steps in the operation of opening the package shownin Fig. 1.

'Ihe package illustrated includes a cylindrical casing I0 filled withplastic materialk II, such for instance as ice cream, lard, shorteningetc. which completely lls the casing. These two ends may be closed inany suitable manner but preferably by anged caps I2 forced into thecylinder ends against the material Il with the 5 iianges I3 extendingoutwardly and with the ends of the cylinder spun on crimped over theseflanges as indicated at I 0a to retain the caps in position.

The cylindrical peripheral wall of the enwrapment or casing preferablycomprises a section of l0 spiral tubing, one satisfactory method andapparatus for forming and filling said section being described andclaimed in my copending application Serial No. 735,740, led July 18,'1934, In another copending application Serial No. 739,391, 15 iiledAugust 11, 1934, I disclose and claim a 4process of completing theformation of the packages which may be of the type embodying the presentinvention by forcing the material back from the ends of the cylindricalsections `by gas 20 pressure and closing the ends while under suchpressure.

'I'he spiral tubing which is cut into sections to form the peripheralwall of the present package consists of an inner spirally wound layer I425 I preferably of paper or other suitable flexiblesheet material. Theline of abutment of the sheet forming the spirally wound inner layer isconcealed by a spirally wound outer sheet or wrapper I5, the twospirally wound layers I 4 and I5 30 being adhesively connected together.I have illustrated the adhesive as applied in spaced spiral bands I8.

The outer layer or. wrapper is provided with a line of perforations I6parallel to the spirally 35 disposed abutting edges of the inner wrapperand lying closely adjacent said edges. The adhesive material whichconnects the inner and outer spirally wound cylindricalcas'ing sectionsis omitted in the region of the perforations in 40 the outer sheet.There is no adhesive directly under the perforations and there is noadhesive along the narrow spiral band between the line of perforationsin the outer sheet and the line where the edges of the spirally woundinner 45v shell abut. Thus if the outer sheet is torn along the line ofperforations, the edges of the inner shell which are held in abutmentonly -by the outer sheetl will be free to separate. By making theperforations at one or both ends of the line 50 of perforations somewhatlarger than the others as indicated at I'I, the edges of the outer sheetmay be easily picked up to initiate the tearing operation. y

In liberating the ice cream or other plastic 55 material from thepackage, the crimped end may be raised and smoothed out at one end andthe cap pulled out. Then one end of the line of periorations is tornwith any suitable tool or byhand as indicated in Fig. 4 and the tearingconl tinued along the entire length of the package and the casing thuseasily opened up to permit removal of the contents. Both caps may beremoved before beginning the tearing or the tearing may be started fromone or both ends heiorev the caps are removed or the tearing may in.some cases be completed before either cap is removed.

' The present package makes it unnecessary to soil a separate plate bydumping the block of ice' cream or other plastic material on the platefor slicing or other subdivisionor serving since the completely openedpackage may serve as a' tray or rest upon which the slicing or othersubdividing may be done. 'in some cases it may he desired to vremoveonly a slice or two from the venwrapped block in which event only oneend o the package is opened and the peripheral wall or the enwrapment orycasing is only partially torn open and the torn vportion is folded backto a sucient extent so'that one or more slices may be cut from the end othe block.

The paper strip trom which the spiral tubing is formed is relativelywide and the pitch of the spiral is relatively steep. This is importantin most cases because in tearing the tubular container from end toend,the tear extends around only approximately a small portion, forinstance,

other words, a crushing strain applied to the side of the cylinder ismore effectively' resisted than if a straight longitudinal line of tearwere relied upOn.

It is within the scope of the invention to form the cylindrical sectionof the casing of other material than spirallywound tubing but suchmaterial is preferred due to theffact that it is in. herently adaptedfor the application of a highly satisfactory weakening line.v

The end caps afford a very substantial resistence t'o endwisedisplacement prior to tearing open of the cylinder. If the plasticmaterial be ice cream or otherv compressible material, these end capsare preferably applied while the block of ice cream is under substantial'air pressure in the order of three or four pounds, and are forced inand spun over securely enough so that the,

compressed air within the ice cream or voids in the material will notdislodge said caps after the package is completed and -the outsidepressure is released. Thus the danger of a suddenly applied pressure on'one end cap forcing out the other end'cap and the ice cream with it, is

t Due tothe convenience with which the outer wrapper may be manuallygrasped to initiate a tearing operation and due to the presenceof theprojecting flanges on the caps. thereis no necessity for contaminatingthe enwrapped. plastic donnees body by contact with the iingers whencompletely or partially opening the package.

.Another advantage of the enwrapment which .tears along a spiral` lineresults from the fact that the wrapper is much more easily removed froma materialtending to stick or adhere thereto because of the unpeelingaction than'is the case where the material must be', slid or pushedout/of a closely conilning container.

The inner shell or layer may be of relatively sti material but this isnot essential as the resistance of the ice cream itself is a verymaterial .factor in rendering the package form-sustaining and notsubject to denting or injury during the yicissitudes of shipment orcasual handling.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: Y l. A package including a cylindricalcasing comprising two spirally wound layers of :dexible material, theouter layer having a weakened tearing line extending spirally 'thereofand disposed adjacent to but out of registry with the line o theabutting edges of the inner layer, said layers beingedhesively connectedtogether but being free of adhesive in the region of the tear line.

2. a package including a substantially solid cylindrical block ofcomestible material and a casing thereabout including a cylindricalperipheral wall closely ntting the block and means closing the ends ogsaid casing, said casing com prising two adhesively connected layers ofspirally wound exible material, the outer layer having a weakenedtearing line therein extending n substantially from end to end thereofand arranged closely adjacent to the line of abutment of the edges ofthe inner layer and said layers being devoid oi adhesive connectingmeans between said tearing line and said line of abutment, wherebytearing oi` the outer layer on the weakened line trees the inner layeralong the line of abutment.

3. A package including a. substantially solid cylindrical block ofplastic comestible material and an enwrapment thereabout including atubular casing closely fitting the block, and a pair of caps closing theends of the casing, said casing comprising two adhesively connectedlayers of spirally wound exible' material, the outer layer t having aline of perforations therein extendin from end to end thereof andarranged closely adjacent to the line of abutment of the edges of theinner layer, said casing being of greater length than diameter and thelines of abutment of the spirallyxwound material traversing less thanonehalfpf the circumference of the casing, whereby upon tearing theouter layer along said line of perforations the casing may be openedfrom end to end and the block laterally discharged.

4. A package including a substantially solid cylindrical block ofplastic comestible material and an enwrapment thereabout including a.tubular casing closely tting the block, and a pair of caps closingtheends of the casing, said casing comprising two adhesively connectedlayers of spirally wound flexible material, the outer layer having aline of perforations therein extending from end to end thereof andarranged closely adjacent to the lineof abutment of the edges of theinner layer, said line of perforations and said line of abutmenttraversing less than onehalf of the circumference of thepackage,whereby' upon tearing the outer layer along said line of 'perforationsthe casing may be opened from end -W end and the block laterallydischarged, the Der..

forations at the ends of the line being enlarged to facilitate theinitiation of the tearing operation.

5. A container having a peripheral wall comprising two adhesivelyconnected layers of spirally wound flexible material, the outer layerhaving a weakened tearing line therein extending substantially from endto' end thereof and arranged closely adjacent to the line of abutment ofthe edges of the inner layer and said layers being devoid of adhesiveconnecting means between said tearing line and said line of abutment,whereby tearing of the outer layer on the weakened line frees the innerlayer along the line of abutment.

6. A package including a cylindrical casing of greater length thandiameter and comprising two layers of exible material, the inner layerhaving abutting edges extending from'one end of the package to the otheralong a spiral line traversing less than one-half of the circumferenceof the package, and the outer layer having a line of '7. A packageincluding a cylindrical casing of greater length than diameter andcomprising two layers of flexible material, the inner layer havingabutting edges extending from one end of the package to the other alonga spiral line traversing less 4than one-half of the circumference of thepackage, and the outer layer having a weak ened line adjacent to,parallel with and spaced laterally from said abutting edges of the innerlayer, whereby upon tearing the outer layer along said weakened line thecasing may be opened from

